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Menu Tracker: New items from McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, Popeyes, and Wendy’sMenu Tracker: New items from McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, Popeyes, and Wendy’s

Plus micro-tests at Taco Bell and Pizza Hut and innovation at Auntie Anne’s, Baskin-Robbins, Bellagreen, Carvel , Clean Juice, Curry Up Now, Dutch Bros, Elevation Burger, First Watch, Gott’s Roadside, Hurricane Grill & Wings, Jinya Ramen Bar, McAlister’s Deli, The Melt, Next Level Burger, PDQ, Rapid Fired Pizza, Red Lobster, Rise Southern Biscuits & Righteous Chicken, Slater’s 50/50, Slutty Vegan, Snarf’s Sandwiches, Sweetgreen, Taco Del Mar, Urban Plates, Velvet Taco, and Yogurtland

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

June 9, 2023

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Taco Bell has developed a vegan version of its Crunchwrap Supreme and testing it this week in three locations and three locations only, in Hollywood, New York City, and Orlando. That seems small, but not compared to the offering of Pizza Hut’s Pickle Pizza, which is available at one New York City location for three days.

Pizza Hut said it was the first national chain to put pickles on pizza, but that’s not true: Papa John’s had pickles on its Cheeseburger Pizza a while back.

Rapid Fired Pizza just added a Deluxe Double Cheeseburger Pizza to its menu for June, sans pickles.

McDonald’s has a new berry flavored shake in celebration of the birthday of Grimace, its purple fictional character from Mcdonaldland. Why Grimace’s birthday is June 12 is anyone’s guess, but it is clear that he’s a Gemini.

Chick-fil-A is bringing back a bunch of peach items for the summer, and it’s testing a grilled chicken sandwich in two markets. Meanwhile, Popeyes just rolled out a grilled chicken sandwich nationwide, so that’s interesting.

In other chicken news, Hurricane Grill & Wings is putting that meat on nachos and in salad, Jinya Ramen Bar is putting fried chicken in noodle soup again, Rise Southern Biscuits & Righteous Chicken has a hot honey chicken biscuit, and Velvet Taco’s Weekly Taco Feature is inspired by the chicken Caesar salad.

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Wendy’s has brought back its Summer Strawberry Salad, and Red Lobster is celebrating Crabfest with some new items, and some returning ones, and Bellagreen has a bunch of crab-filled limited-time offers too. 

June is LGBTQ Pride Month, except apparently in San Diego, where it’s celebrated in July, so The Melt’s Harvey Milk Shake is available at all locations in June, but through July in that city. 

Next Level Burger has a peach shake with rainbow crystals and a gummy to celebrate the occasion, and also is donating to a variety of organizations supporting LGBTQ communities in various markets.

Elevation Burger is putting peach jam and goat cheese on a burger and Gott’s Roadside has a peach cobbler parfait.

PDQ has brough back zucchini fries, Taco Del Mar has lobster tacos once again, and Baskin-Robbins is reprising its ice cream cake shaped like a beer mug in honor of Father’s Day.

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Carvel, for its part, is offering salted caramel cold brew soft serve.

Dutch Bros has frosted lemonade, Auntie Anne’s has dragon fruit mango lemonade in many shapes and sizes, and Clean Juice is putting dragon fruit in one of its new items, too.

Curry Up Now has become a full-service restaurant, and it has several new items as part of its transition, 

McAlister’s Deli has a new summer salad, among other items, First Watch has new iced coffee flavors, and Slutty Vegan has a new item called Hooker Fries.

Snarf’s Sandwiches has brought back its Cubano, Sweetgreen has a new Mediterranean themed bowl, Urban Plates has tortilla soup, Yogurtland has pineapple mango sorbet, and Slater’s 50/50 has some over-the-top shakes.

 

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

 

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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